South Florida

tragedy after a stolen car crashes, killing two girls and injuring 5 kids.

POMPANO BEACH — Two girls between the ages of 12 and 14 were killed and five kids were injured after a stolen car crashed and flipped over on to railway tracks in Pompano Beach early Sunday, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office said.

Deputies said the driver of the vehicle, a Toyota sedan, was heading west on Northwest 15th Street when the car veered off the road, slammed into a metal crossing arm and landed upside down on the CSX tracks west of Interstate 95.

Everyone in the car was between the ages of 12 and 14, deputies said.

Two of the girls are dead. The other five — one boy and four girls — were taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.

Police declined to elaborate on where the kids had been, where and when the car was stolen, who was driving or how the kids knew each other.

Traffic homicide investigators are looking into the cause of the crash.

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, the Sheriff’s Office had not released the identities of the children. Family members outside the hospital identified one of the deceased girls as 12-year-old Chayanna Nesmith. Her 13-year-old sister, Teenna Nesmith, was hurt in the crash, her family said.

“I’m just here praying for Teeana, as she recovers and is able to deal with coming to grips with losing her sister,” Debra Lesane, the girls’ grandmother, told WSVN 7 News.

Broward schools Superintendent Robert Runcie tweeted condolences Sunday. “Our prayers and condolences for our families and community grieving this terrible loss,” his tweet said.

Northwest 15th Street remained closed to vehicles between the 900 and 1200 blocks on Sunday.

Rail traffic on the tracks was also halted until the car could be removed.

At noon, an Amtrak train slowly made its way along the tracks as crews worked to replace the damaged signal mast that was knocked down in the crash.

Pompano Beach resident Otis Hunter said he knew the parents of one of the children who’d been killed in the crash.

“I heard the mother dropped the kids off at the movies,” he said. “Some wild kids picked them up. And they never made it home.”